Becoming Human
by Author Name Changed
Summary: Mayuri's researching one area he has nearly no data on: pleasure, mainly the erotic type. But during his experiments, something goes very wrong, or rather, very right, and his life starts changing in all possible ways.
1. Chapter 1

It was a hot, sunny day. Not that it mattered much to Mayuri. Such feeble things were not of interest. What he needed to do was research. Research until he could figure out the secrets of the Universe itself and know everything that there was to know.

Of course, he'd figured out how many things worked. Humans, shinigami, Quinchy, even himself had all been put up to the test, measured and filed.

What intrigued him, though, were the processes that were so natural to others. That they never thought about them as worthy of the greatest effort put into their research. Like thinking. Laughter, amusement, feelings. And especially one feeling that intrigued him most, the strongest of al physical feelings: the orgasm.

He didn't know much about it.

Such small things as physical pleasure had never interested him. The time he could have given for pursuing females had been given to study. The time to find easy women had been spent on research. Women had never jumped on him – but even if they would have, he'd have shunned them away and given the energy for his projects.

All things have a time. It was the time for pleasure to be studied. Not on himself, of course. He needed a subject. Nemu was not good – she was in great part created by him and he didn't know if she would react the same as a normal female. She seemed very put down by his unwillingness to study the matter with her, but she needed to understand he couldn't waste his research on a being that might not be normal from this point of view.

He went out to the gathering place of his Division and searched for somebody good enough.

He saw her: a new girl, fresh out of the Academy, on her first day into the Gotei-13 and as normal as they got, but pretty.

"You," he said, impassibly. "Come with me."

The entire Division went quiet.

"Huh?" she said, a bit lost.

"Go with the captain," a young man said, in a dead, pale voice.

She gulped and walked very slowly towards him. Mayuri felt like rolling his eyes.

"Quicker, please."

He turned away and started walking towards his laboratory, knowing that she would follow. There was no low-power being in the Seireitei that would dare refuse him. Not if it knew what it was good for it.

He walked down the stairs to the "quiet laboratory". He didn't call it that because it was peaceful and serene, as one might expect, but because nobody could hear a scream from there. Outside, it would seem that all was quiet, not a hint of anything going down below. Hence, the name.

"Captain Mayuri," she dared, slowly, "what will happen now?"

"I needed a test subject for some experiments," he answered and she gulped.

"What experiments?"

"Pleasure. I still have yet to understand why the sexual pull seems to mean so much for intelligent beings. It is the strongest impulse, they say. Stronger than even hunger."

"I've… heard so, too," she said in a quiet voice. Was this just a masked way of taking her to his bed? Or would he really experiment on it? How would he do it?… She hadn't yet had the time to hear about everything the captain did.

Mayuri opened a door and stepped through it, letting her trot behind him like a lost puppy. She closed the door and jumped a bit when it locked itself.

"Simple measure, so I wouldn't be disturbed here," Mayuri explained, bored. "Get ready, please."

She looked around the room. It was large enough, with some computers, a few chairs and… a chair with restraints on it, that seemed to be a cross between a gynaecologist's chair, a dentist's chair and a torture chair.

"Get ready, please," Mayuri said.

"H-how?… er?…"

"Get undressed," he said a bit impatiently.

She slid out of her clothes, feeling quite awkward. And indeed, who wouldn't?…

"On the chair," he pointed to the weird chair she'd noticed before. She slowly got on and placed her feet on either side, into the supports. Surprisingly, the chair also had hand supports, so she slowly placed her hands there, too.

Mayuri went to the computer and sat down. The girl relaxed a bit.

"Name," he demanded.

"Takahashi Izanami."

"Age."

"28."

"Age of start of sexual activity."

"Errr… 17."

"How is your sexual desire, compared to others? Low, medium, high?"

"Errr… high," she replied, embarrassed. But the weird part of the situation was that her new Captain didn't seem at all impressed by anything. Not by her staying there in an uncomfortable way, not looking at her when she answered "high", not once did his eyes look at her chest while she took off her blouse or at anything else when she removed her undergarments. He might as well have ignored her and mailed the questions.

"Any unusual desires?" he asked.

"Not that I know of," she replied.

"What turns you on?"

"I…err.. that's a very personal question."

He spared her a look that said "I don't give a damn." And well, it wasn't as if the other questions were less personal.

"Right," she muttered. "Erm… kissing my neck, touching my breasts, erm… blow jobs. But who doesn't like blow jobs, eh?…"

He gave her another look. Right. _He_ didn't like blow jobs. He probably never had one.

"Anything else?"

"Not in particular, although many other things are… pleasurable."

Mayuri introduced the data in the computer. Now, he could start experimenting. If anything else came up, he would have this recorded by the cameras in the room.

"If there is anything that you consider important, tell me. It might be useful for the research," he explained. Then he pushed a button and restraints popped up, holding both her hands and feet down.

"What?! What is this!" She cried out in panic. "Hey, I was willing to stay, you don't need to tie me up, hey! HEY!"

"If you were willing to remain there, then restraints mean nothing," he said simply. "Also, we are pretty much underground here. Don't worry. Nobody can hear you scream, so if you feel that you must do it…"

"This is so fucked up," she said, struggling.

Mayuri went to her and ran his finger between her legs.

"Is this the normal wetness and heat?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, stopping her struggle. Useless.

"Is this the normal wetness and heat?" he repeated, impatient.

"I guess so. It's not like I touch myself to check all the time," she grumbled. "And I sure as hell am not turned on."

He reached a hand and cupped her breast.

"What reaction does this produce?"

She looked at him blankly.

"Not much of an erotic one. Are you really _that_ clueless about this?"

"Explain everything that you feel needs explaining," he replied, annoyed. He didn't like being called clueless… even if he _was_.

"It's more than this," she answered. "For women, especially, there has to be a _something_, a feel to it, not just a mechanical gesture. Although that counts, too. And I'd have to be more relaxed. Like I am after a date. And in a bed. This whole thing feels weird and unpleasant, how am I supposed to think of pleasure in this situation?"

"Relaxation," Mayuri muttered, getting away from her and searching through his office.

"What are you doing?" she asked, not really wanting to know.

"Searching for some calming pills I had around here."

"Oh, jeez, that might help, but it won't be _natural_. You want the research to be natural, right? Normal conditions? Not drug induced."

He stopped. She'd counted on that. She did _not _want to know what he'd have fed her.

"Quite right," he answered. "How much effect does the mechanical gesture only have?"

"Umm…"

He reached a hand and started pinching her right nipple and fondling with her breast. It was softer than she'd have imagined.

"Turn to the other one as well," she sighed. Might as well help him along, since it basically and literally was her pleasure and that would mean she could leave sooner. "Run your hands on my body."

He complied. It felt odd, being touched all over for the sake of science.

"You might want to write this down," she said. "But this experiment has an appealing perverted nature."

"What?" he asked, stopping for a moment.

"The mad scientist, working like a slave to give a woman pleasure so he can research it. Very… strange-fantasy like."

He touched her between the legs again.

"The wetness has increased," he said. She could've slapped him for the comment. She settled for a sigh.

"It's a weird, perverted thing. I'd rather get out of here, but since I am here… might as well make the best out of it. Kiss my breast or something."

He leaned over her and pecked her breast. She rolled her eyes.

"Open mouth, insert nipple. Use your tongue, suck, use your teeth easily."

And he followed her instructions precisely. Except when it came to the teeth instruction.

"Easily, dammit! Easily!" she roared in pain, buckling under him and trying to get away, but being restrained.

"Right," he said, licking the affected area.

He got up, turned his back at her and seemed to be doing something. She watched him curiously, her nipple still aching. He seemed to be getting the point otherwise, though. His hands moved around his face for awhile and when he turned, she could see he had taken his mask off. She hadn't known it was a mask. But apparently, he was human. Blue hair and yellow eyes and not that bad looking.

"You're weird," she said.

"The mask was not letting me use my facial muscles too well," he explained and returned to kissing her breasts.

"Hmmm… it is better," she said. Then there was a slight intrusion between her legs. "Am I wet?" she said, sarcastically.

"Yes," he answered.

"Next thing you can do is give me a blow job," she smirked. "Works wonders."

Might as well make the best of the situation, no?… He didn't seem the type to force himself on her… Maybe he'd get some dildos and try them on her and…

He retreated. Completely. Went to his computer.

"Hey, you gonna leave me like this?" she asked, displeased. If she could have risen from the chair and slap him, she would have done so, to express her displeasure. He pressed a few buttons and she heard something moving in the chair. "What are you doing?"

She looked between her legs and she saw a thing in the shape of a mouth with the tongue out rising. 'You've got to be kidding me,' she thought.

"I couldn't prepare anything for the upper part of the body, since I did not know what it was supposed to do," he explained. "But I found some documents on this."

He went back to the chair and pushed the thing against her. Then he turned it on and it started working on her like a real mouth. Wetness included.

"It's pretty good," she replied. "Definitely. Think I can borrow it from time to time?"

"No," he answered, annoyed.

"I was joking," she breathed, but her voice started sounding off and her breathing got ragged. "You're… insane."

She started losing her composure while he watched, a weird expression in his eyes. She deeply hoped it was just scientific excitement, because if it was arousal, she could just imagine him taking off his pants, kicking the machine aside and… oh, maybe sexual arousal was better…

The artificial mouth went away and she groaned. He had a knack for stopping things at the wrong time.

"How is that?" he asked.

"You stopped it at a very annoying time," she answered, glaring and breathing raggedly. "I feel tempted to break loose and kick you for it. Or molest you."

There was that look in his eyes again. But it went away quickly.

"Put it back," she half-ordered, half-whined. He went back to the computer and pressed a few more buttons. Then a metal thing came out and she looked at it, horrified. It didn't look like anything she wanted inside of her. But then her Captain opened a drawer and got out a small dildo.

"I want to see what effect this produces in comparison to a… blow job," he explained.

He attached it to the metal bar and positioned it. With a bit more controlling from the computer, the thing was put in motion and Izanami… well… acted like a woman would when her pleasure spots are hit. Mayuri watched in scientific curiosity, wondering mildly how such a small thing would make a person go as insane as that. Sure, he had watched some documentation from the real world (aka porn movies, to all who didn't get the reference) but he had realized soon that many things were faked there. He had expected a much milder response from a real person. Instead, he got a more intense one. And, to his great surprise, he was getting another response, which he tried to push away from his mind, but found that, unlike at other times, he couldn't.

Izanami was shamelessly manifesting herself in all her shivering, moaning glory when the weird contraption was pulled away from her. She looked up, cursing loudly at her captain, but he didn't seem to mind. And she saw immediately that his clothes had been taken off. 'Probably not to hinder him,' she thought. Mayuri had a certain look in his eyes and she was sure now that she wasn't mistaking it. He stepped up to her.

"Anything you would recommend?" he asked.

"Yes," she breathed. "let me off this chair and let's take the floor. It's a lot more comfortable and I can show you a lot of things that way."

'Like a fantasy gone wild,' she thought to herself as he removed the restraints on her.

She jumped off the chair and he opened up a cupboard taking out some blankets. He even had blankets! This really was surreal.

He threw the blankets on the floor and stood on them, looking proud and cold and arrogant. She moved forth by force of weirdness and passion and decided to show him just what exactly a blow job was.

He nearly kicked her off at first, probably distrusting, but as soon as her mouth touched him, he gave up on the gesture. To her credit, she did her best. She sent a look up to him every now and then and his eyes seemed to lose their focus and their coldness. He threw his head backwards and let a moan escape him. That was when she stopped. For revenge. Because he had stopped on her every time and she was still in pain.

"Continue," he ordered.

"Of course," she answered, grinning like that cat that got the cream. "But first, please lie down."

He looked at her coldly.

"Please lie down," she repeated in a near-order. "Relax. Enjoy. And let go of that pompousness, you'll be better off."

He glared slightly at her and lied down, relaxing his neck. She watched him for a few seconds and the thought struck her: she would be his first. And in some ways, he seemed almost like a child. A gruesome child who will kill a frog to see what it's made of, but a child nevertheless. When it came to some parts, because she was sure he was quite capable in others. But something seemed different, almost as if he was confused. She was quite sure that before he wouldn't have waited as patiently for her as he was then.

But just as she thought that, his head turned and he spoke, "I am waiting."

Perhaps it was the nearly soft tone, but she could feel something had definitely changed. For some reason, she smiled very warmly at him and replied, "I know."

She kissed him briefly on the lips, leaving him surprised to the point of shock. And then, she did continue. She straddled him and took complete control over him, just as he'd allowed her to. From the sense of warmness towards him that she was suddenly feeling, she actually treated him like she had any of her lovers.

Mayuri just lied on the floor, overwhelmed. His mind felt weirdly empty and light and the pleasure was moving through his entire body – thing which he had _not_ expected. A smile settled on his lips and he gave in to the feeling, tossing his head back in a long moan. He convinced the girl to let him on top and he started moving on his own accord, gathering her into his arms and kissing her.

He had never believed that he would do that – but suddenly, he was doing it. And she had tears in her eyes for a reason he couldn't understand, but she looked beautiful and gone in some other paradise than him, but in a paradise nonetheless.

He kept on moving without a stop, feeling that with every gesture the pleasure grew, dragging him more and more into it, in a way he had never believed possible before. Did all humans feel that?… It suddenly stopped being such a scientific question.

"Oh, God," the girl breathed next to his ear, clinging to him. He smiled at her, listening to her soft moans.

The feeling washed over him more and more, blinding him in light… and then it started retreating slowly,

At some point, he just slipped out of her and lied on his back, with her on top of him.

"That was… extraordinary," she breathed. "I never… did you… oh, gods…"

He looked at the ceiling, his mind surprisingly empty and pleasant because of that. Had he been stupid for so long?… Suddenly some things had become so clear to him, as if his former mind was below and while he could easily use it, he now could understand much more.

"I've never felt anything like that before," she said, suddenly. "Did you do something?"

"Nothing," he replied softly.

"Was that heaven?" she breathed.

"I don't know," he answered. "My mind feels very clear. And quiet."

She smiled at him and he realized with a shock that she was beautiful. He'd never considered it before. Not when it came to women or, God forbid, art.

"You look much better without that mask on, Mayuri… Mayuri-sama."

"Hm," he answered, starting to feel a bit confused and unstable. Something very odd had happened. And he didn't feel the same anymore. The quietness was scaring him.

"Would you kill me if…"

He looked at her as she talked.

"Would you kill me if I said that I loved you?" she asked, slowly. "I don't know why. I… I…"

"Shh," he answered. "Would you mind if I asked you to leave? You talk too much now and I feel strange."

She stared at him as if slapped on the face, before her expression softened and became sad.

"I'll leave," she answered, getting up and picking up her clothes. Her eyes became glassy and he looked at her, unsure.

"Don't cry," he said. "We'll talk later, when I'll be on my feet. My head is swirling and I don't understand…"

He wanted to say "anything", but he stopped himself. She looked at him and gave him a soft smile that had a meaning he understood very clearly: "you won't call me later, but it is alright… even if it makes me sad". She dressed quickly and left.

He got up slowly, locked the door behind her and sat in his chair, holding his head in his arms.

"What happened?" he whispered, feeling caught in between something and something.

The next day, at the captain's meeting, Mayuri was late and the others were starting to become impatient. Hitsugaya was looking blankly at Yamamoto, Ukitake was coughing and Soifon was considering proposing to start early.

That was when a thoughtful man with blue hair and yellow eyes, dressed like a captain, came in, his head bowed low.

"Who are you?" Kyoraku asked and the man's head snapped up.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"He's wearing Mayuri's uniform!" Soifon said.

"That's pretty lame, if there's anybody who wants to infiltrate us," Kyoraku noticed. "We all know each other quite well."

"But…" Mayuri said, snapping alert. "If you know me so well, you'll realize that I _am_ Mayuri. Some of you must have seen me without the mask!"

"Hm," Hitsugaya answered. "We might have. And your voice must be the same. But let me tell you this: there's no mistake, that is definitely not Mayuri's style or reiatsu."

"What?!" Mayuri asked. "It's me, you idiots!"

And then, as Hitsugaya, Soifon and Kyoraku drew their weapons, he gulped and took a step back.

Oh, yeah. This was going to be a blast.


	2. Chapter 2

Since I forgot to mention this in the first chapter… Bleach doesn't belong to me. But of course, everybody knows that.

Chapter 2

Mayuri retreated two steps and looked worriedly at Hitsugaya, Soifon and Kyoraku, who had taken their swords out.

"It's me. How idiotic can you get to try to infiltrate a captains' meeting like this?"

He didn't know what had happened to his reiatsu, but seeing that he'd been so confused lately, maybe there was a possibility it really had changed. Fascinating, he'd have to study the phenomena… when he managed to get the captains to calm down.

"Quite dumb," Ukitake agreed. "But never underestimate the idiocy of your enemies."

"I'll prove it to you, then," Mayuri said, holding out his sword. "Bankai!"

And the others waited. He waited, too.

"Ban-kai," he repeated, feeling the color drain from his face. "Bankai…"

"You have, indeed, proven something," Soifon said, smiling in a troubling way.

But Mayuri wasn't listening. What had happened? Why couldn't he use his Bankai?!

"_Ashisogi Jizo"_, he whispered, realizing for the first time that he couldn't communicate with his zanpakuto anymore. In the next second, though, his head snapped up towards the three. Soifon attacked at that very moment, Kyoraku and Hitsugaya following closely. He jumped back and detached his scythe ear, ready to throw it.

Suddenly, everything in the room stopped.

"Mayuri," Soifon said.

"You believe me now?" Surprise filled his voice.

"There's only one human being gross enough to do things like that to his body… and that is you," Kyoraku answered. "But how did you get in this state?…"

Mayuri looked at him coldly, while desperately trying to think of an answer. "An experiment gone a bit weird."

Everybody stared at him and then Kyoraku started laughing. "It finally went against you!"

"Ha, ha," Mayuri replied.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

The wind blew slightly in the dusk. A tall, thin shinigami stood on a tree branch, seeming to be in some sort of pain. She was beautiful, yet a bit sickly, shivering although it was warm. Her eyes followed somebody through the quiet crowds of the Seireitei.

"Hear my silent prayer, heed my quiet call, when the dark and blue surround you" she chanted in a soft tune, sounding like a child warding off the monsters under the bed. "Step into my sigh, look inside the light… you will know that I have found… you."

She sat on the branch, humming to herself and shivering, with a look that made you wonder if she were caged and yearning for something that she could never reach.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

He slowly walked back to his quarters, feeling odd. He needed to clear his mind, start talking to his sword and figure out what was wrong with him. But some things never quite work out as planned. In front of his door was her. Izanami. Sitting on a step and looking as if she had been waiting for a long time. He walked towards her.

"Hello," he muttered.

She looked up and he felt the need to smile to her.

"Captain," she breathed. "Can I speak to you?"

He made a motion, inviting her in his house and didn't stop to think twice before leading her towards his dormitory. It struck him suddenly as a cold and impersonal place, but she didn't seem to mind, as she jumped on the bed and scratched her chin.

"I can't take my mind off you," she said. "I think I'm in love."

He looked at her, his face unreadable. Then, he spoke.

"I am experiencing changes of a calibre that hasn't been recorded in any of the documents of Seireitei. I cannot feel my sword anymore. I cannot use bankai and I don't understand why."

"Something happened," she said. "Something _weird_. I _never_ experienced anything like this. I didn't plan to fall in love with you, I didn't plan for this to be so… so… Something is changing in me, too."

"Hmm," he let himself fall on his bed, tiredly. For once, he had no answer.

"There's one more thing," she said with a shy smile. "You didn't… well… come. When we… well, in the experiment. It struck me only afterwards."

He looked at her uninterestedly. "Orgasm and ejaculation are different. I decided not to ejaculate, since it's a waste of energy and I did not plan on reproducing."

She widened her eyes at him. "That's the first time I hear a man say that. Where did you learn that? How did you find out how to do it?"

He seemed to be thinking on other matters, but answered her nonetheless. "I realized it in the moment I was doing it."

"You're weird," she said, sprawling out on the bed. "Sooooooooooo… care to try it out again? Please? Pretty please? For experiments, of course."

Mayuri's mind made a quick calculation. He had felt his mind much clearer during and immediately after – maybe this time it would be the same. And he needed to have his mind clear again and figure out what he could do. He turned to say "yes", but then saw her giving him such a look that he could only smile at her in response. He leaned in to kiss her.

Nemu pulled back sadly from the small hole she had made a long time before in the room's ceiling to spy on him.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Yamamoto took his head in his hands. He _had_ encountered the phenomena once before. Just once. A long time before, before he founded the shinigami academy. About… 2000 years before. And then add some more. He had been young at that time and his friend, the phenomena, had already been quite old. His name had been Ryu – or at least, that's what the old shinigami had gone by. None had known his real name. He had appeared out of nowhere, wielding a power greater than any other. Except, he never bragged about it. For most of the time, he appeared to be just a normal shinigami.

Yamamoto had asked him once, while they were in the shinigami equivalent of a bar, how he had managed to gain it all. Ryu had looked at him gently, growled in a dragon-like almost playful way and answered.

"I was very powerful to begin with. Very clever. I had achieved bankai… Yet one day everything just changed, my sword would not speak to me and I appeared to be doomed. Then I recovered and became as I am now."

"Do you know what caused the change?" young Yamamoto had asked.

"Yes."

"What was it?"

Ryu had just smiled and asked the woman who served at the bar for a drink. Yamamoto had not dared to ask again, just sipping on his drink and wondering on the enigma. Oh, how his older version wished he had insisted!

Soon afterwards, he'd found a note, written in Ryu's fine calligraphy: "We found each other on the hills, in the folding silk of the moving wind. We were bound by the limbs of our fire, though mine is old and tame and yours is young and wild. With the water of knowledge we put an end to the thirst of our spirits at the drinking table. And now it is the time of earth, into which I must retreat and complete our cycle and indeed, my cycle. I bid you farewell, a long lasting life and more importantly, a good one. Your friend, Ryu."

None had seen him again. He had not left any other notes and the secret of his power remained unrevealed.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Renji!" Rukia cried, startling Ichigo. "You are here!"

"I'm bringing news from Seireitei," he answered, smiling wolfishly and sharing a hello with Ichigo. "Your brother sends his hello and all his love."

"Byakuya said that?" Ichigo asked, amazed.

"No… more like… meant them. He actually said something along the lines of "hmmm" when I said I was coming here."

"That sounds more like him."

"Also, strange news," Renji continued. "Mayuri can't use his bankai. He lost it in some experiment."

"You can lose a bankai?" Ichigo asked, worried.

"I never knew you could, either. He seemed very worried and thoughtful. Anyway, the news is already all over Seireitei. He stopped all technological activity. It's very good news for the 12th division, you do realize."

"He had it coming," Ichigo grinned.

"So, anything else?" asked Rukia.

"Yes, apparently Soifon flashed the royal guards by pulling a Yoruichi. Not intentional, mind you, one of the new trainees misused a Demon Art and blasted off her clothes. She then chased him naked around Seireitei. A beautiful sight…"

Rukia sighed and Ichigo pretended he didn't enjoy the subject.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Author's Note: Thanks to all those who reviewed my story! Keep them coming, I'm enjoying that! grins And errr… the more you send, the quicker I'll update. If for no other reason, then because I'm reminded to actually put this story down on paper. Also, the author's block I had experienced slightly at the end of the previouis chapter is gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Bleach doesn't belong to me. But of course, everybody knows that.

Author's Note: Eh… Sorry for the long wait. I was terribly busy, job, uni, all that. But I promise I'll update soon(er)! (I always say that… maybe this time I'll actually keep my word!) I'm afraid there's not as much light-hearted humor and action in this chapter, but hey, the story had to get a bit dark before it gets to light again. Don't worry, though! I'm not leaving Mayuri in the mental state he is in now! (jee, there I go, killing my own cliffhanger.)

Chapter 3

Nemu had been waiting quietly before Mayuri's door, wondering when he would come out. But actually, it made no difference whether he got out in a minute or an hour. She only wanted to see the door open and then ask him, plead him…

At that precise moment, the door indeed opened and he came out, dressed in a robe that was obviously his only piece of clothing at the time. Nemu fell on her knees in front of him.

"Mayuri-sama," she begged. "Please allow me to be your servant in all things. Do not search for others when I can give you anything that you might desire."

She had no clue, obviously, but that was possibly the worst moment to make such a demand. Mayuri had expected to feel better after he slept with Izanami again. Instead, he had never felt worse in his entire life and he couldn't figure out why. It was as if something pressed against him from all sides, ruining his entire life, the entire view he had upon the world and destroying him inside out. This process had already started and it gave no sign of stopping anytime soon. After a frightening meditation, he had also realized that Ashisogi Jizo was gone. His sword simply wasn't there anymore. And it honestly scared him to hell and back.

Nemu's request fell on death ears. But what surprised even him was the surge of rage he felt towards that girl who was lying on the floor, demanding him to sleep with her. He saw it, understood it, her entire drama of being a creation with nearly complete dependence on its creator, in love with him, rejected, jealous and possessive in her own way. He realized she was very afraid of losing him, conscious that her only power was to be as good a slave as possible, make him want her for convenience. Before, he would have smiled and been happy to have a slave. After his first encounter with Izanami, he might have shrugged it off. But now?… He had no mercy.

He hit her. Hard. His leg collided with her ribs. It made her scream softly in pain and roll into the wall. He felt disgust and anger, pulling her up by the hair, grinning madly.

"You're telling me what to do?" he whispered.

"I'm sorry! So sorry! I shall never ask anything again!" she pleaded.

He slapped her across the face. And that was when Izanami darted out of the bedroom, wearing only a T-shirt.

"What's going on?" she demanded, but she grasped the situation the next moment and grabbed Mayuri's arm. "Don't hurt her! She's just…"

Mayuri roared like a dragon, all the hurt of losing his zanpakuto focusing on the very catalyst that had brought the horrible event. He forgot about Nemu in a second and grabbed Izanami instead, hitting her against the wall. She let out a pained gasp.

"You killed Ashisogi Jizo," he murmured, holding her against the cold wall. "You killed _me_."

"I didn't… Mayuri… I don't know what happened! I didn't do anything! I swear!"

"I could care less," he replied, pulling her by the hair, dragging her to the Quiet Laboratory. Even Nemu was afraid. Izanami cried out, trying to pull herself away from him, but he just dragged her mercilessly through the corridor that linked his quarters to that place. "NEMU!" he yelled and his faithful creation could only obey and follow him in the laboratory, her heart shrinking to the size of a flea. Mayuri had gone insane.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

A tall, thin shinigami was brought before the Captains (minus Mayuri and the turncoats, of course), shivering slightly. Yumichika, her escort, gazed at her one last time and spoke:

"This woman was running around the Seireitei, but she doesn't belong to any of the Divisions. We, the Eleventh Division, found her and decided that, as you were in meeting anyway, we should bring her here."

"Eh? Another Ichigo case?" Kyoraku asked, interestedly.

"Raspberries?" the unknown shinigami asked softly. "Was I supposed to bring raspberries?...Or what's it got to do with me?"

"No, it's irrelevant" Yamamoto brushed it off and the woman made a mental note to bring raspberries the next time. "Who are you?"

"My name is Nakotsu Mieko. Pleased to meet you," she replied politely, bowing.

"And what are you doing here?"

"I'm searching for my friend. I thought he was here, but he seems to have gone away. Otherwise, he'd have come to me already. He always feels when I'm close, you see."

In normal conditions, they'd probably have interrogated the intruder very thoroughly and mercilessly to get all sorts of information out of her – such as who she was and how she'd gotten into seireitei. But Mieko seemed to be falling apart as it were, with her slight trembling and thin frame. Besides, she didn't seem to be hiding anything.

"And who is this friend you're looking for?" Yamamoto asked.

"Lord Ryu," she nearly whispered. "He said to come when I woke up and here I am… but he's gone! Maybe Lord Yamamoto can help me find him, he was his friend and the captain of the First Division and he promised to take me in that one, too!"

"Don't be silly!" Hitsugaya said. "He's still the captain of the First Division and he obviously doesn't remember you, so he can't take you into any Division at all…"

"What do you mean he doesn't remember me?" cried Mieko.

"Well, you don't remember him either, do you?"

"Yes, I do!" she said, tears in her eyes. "I do! He's the kindest man on earth to me and I still love him… And even if he's the captain of the First Division and so important, he can't have forgotten me!"

"Well, he's right there next to you and you can't see him!"

Meanwhile, Yamamoto had frozen. Of course he remembered Ryu. He had thought about him just the day before. His strange connection to Mayuri, the fact that they'd both lost their Bankai, the change they went through… Ryu's name was popping back again, as if it were the time the man appeared again in the world and he was sending unlikely messengers, announcing him: "Ryu, the shinigami who wielded exceptional power"; "the old captain of the First Division". Yamamoto's disappeared friend, who could have helped with Mayuri. Just what was going on?...

Mieko turned towards him, an expression of surprise and hurt in her eyes. "Ryu?"

"No," the old captain shook his head. "Yamamoto. Ryu… disappeared 2000 years ago."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Izanami tried to trash around, fighting against the straps on the same chair she'd been tied to during her first experience in the quiet laboratory. Of course, her resistance was futile and the only effect it had was making her tired and sore.

"Mayuri! Let me go, I swear to all the gods that I didn't do anything! Please!"

Mayuri listened to her, feeling crueler than ever. He understood her, knowing she was afraid and for some reason, the thought fueled him like well-refined fuel. He threw a set of needles and strings towards Nemu, who appeared frightened herself, something that didn't happen to often.

"Sew her holes. All of them," he commanded. "Mouth, ears, vagina, nose. All. Kill her."

"What?! Have you gone nuts?!" Izanami cried. "You bloody perverted bastard son of a motherfucker, you've gone fucking insane!"

Mayuri grinned at her in his newfound madder-than-ever style.

"How about we make this even better, eh?..." he muttered. "Be right back. Nemu, wait!"

He left the room.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Izanami chanted, trying to hit something in frustration. "Nemu, come on! Just this once, please don't listen to him! Please!"

"But he's my master…" she said, with very little conviction. At some level, she knew that the _thing_ that had just run out, all evil grin, was not the Mayuri she had known until then. He had been driven mad and had he been himself, he'd never have said or done the things he'd just said and done. Well… at least, not in the same manner or for the same reasons. Or something like that.

"I'll make him better, I swear! Just help me get out of this and take him down and then we'll make him all better. If I do him any wrong, I swear to God, I'll… I'll… I'll sew myself closed. All holes and all that!"

Nemu hesitated, looking at the door and then at Izanami. For her part, Izanami was starting to regret the "sew myself" thing… just in case she _did_ do anything wrong.

"He'll be a lot better, you'll see!" the tied-up girl pleaded. "We can make him be better! And he'll treat you with all the respect and love you deserve! I know that's what you want and he really can give you that, but not if you go along with his madness now!"

That did it. Even Nemu's fabricated heart knew what love was and she felt it thoroughly when it came to her master. So, for the first time in her life, acting like a woman following her feelings rather than a robot following orders, she quickly unbound Izanami.

"What now?" she asked, thrilled and terrified of her disobedience.

"Now… we ambush him!" Izanami said. "He's lost most of his shinigami power and if we bind him, he can't hurt either us or himself. Then we'll think of something. Don't be scared! Everything will be just fine, you'll see!"

"Yes," Nemu answered, though she didn't feel very secure at all. In fact, she was starting to feel more and more terrified. Going against Mayuri… She'd never dreamt she would do such a thing.

"We can stop him!" Izanami said. "We can!"

They stood on both sides of the door, ready to jump on the man gone mad.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Meanwhile, in a not so far off place in the Seireitei, having absolutely no connection to any of the events and no clue that Mayuri had gone insane, Renji and Ichigo were playing Go while Rukia watched. Unbeknownst to any of them, both guys had the same bet going through their heads: "If I win this game, then Rukia will be mine and not _his_." Of course, secret feelings and inner bets notwithstanding, they seemed to be having just a normal, albeit ruthless, game.

"Where's onii-sama?" Rukia wondered.

"At the Captain's meeting," Renji answered.

"Again?!..."

"Yes, they seem to have them a lot now."

"Makes me wonder whether they're having a group portrait done," Ichigo mussed. "They spend enough time together lately doing God knows what…"

Renji and Rukia both got the same perverted mental image hearing that, but decided not to comment on it. Instead, they couldn't help but notice a near-naked (just robed) Mayuri going at an incredibly fast pace towards a sakura tree in bloom. He broke a branch, stared at it, then cried "Too small!" and broke another one. Apparently, too small again.

"What the-?!" Ichigo asked.

"He looks weird," Renji noticed.

Finally, after a few minutes, Mayuri found a suitably large branch, broke it (Kyoraku would've wept seeing all the discarded branches) and went back towards where he came from at the same quick pace.

"This could mean trouble, let's follow him," Rukia suggested. So the two males got up, cursed their fate that they hadn't finished the game and see who got her and engaged in a Mayuri-chase.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII


End file.
